Heinrich VII, Prince Reuss of Köstritz

Heinrich VII, Prince Reuss of Köstritz
Spouse(s)	Princess Marie Alexandrine of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Noble family	House of Reuss
Father	Heinrich LXIII, Prince Reuss of Köstritz
Mother	Countess Eleonore of Stolberg-Wernigerode
Born	14 July 1825 Klipphausen
Died	2 May 1906 (aged 80) Trzebiechów

Heinrich VII, Prince Reuss of Köstritz (German: Heinrich VII. Reuß zu Köstritz; 14 July 1825, Klipphausen – 2 May 1906, Trzebiechów) was a German diplomat.

Life

Prince Heinrich VII Reuss was born in 1825 as the fifth child and third son of Prince Heinrich LXIII, Prince Reuss of Köstritz and his first wife, Countess Eleonore of Stolberg-Wernigerode. From 1845 to 1848 he studied law at Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg and Humboldt University of Berlin. He then joined the 8th Lancers Regiment. From 1853, he pursued a diplomatic career.

From 1854 to 1863 he worked as an advisor in the Prussian embassy in Paris. Then he was sent as Prussian royal ambassador to Kassel, and later to Munich. On 5 February 1868 he was posted as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the North German Confederation to the Russian court at St. Petersburg by William I, who was still King of Prussia at that time. On 26 April 1871 he was designated the first ambassador of the German Empire by William, who had been crowned Emperor a few months earlier.

From 1873 to 1876 he served Emperor William I as adjutant general. In 1876 he married Princess Marie Alexandrine of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and became a member of the Prussian House of Lords. In 1877, he was the first imperial ambassador to Constantinople, where he opened the magnificent Embassy building, which he was allowed to set up to his own taste. Just one year later he went as German ambassador to Vienna; this was his last foreign assignment.

In 1894, he retired to his castle in Trzebiechów (German: Trebschen), where he died on 2 May 1906.

Descendants

On 6 February 1876, Heinrich VII married Princess Marie Alexandrine of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, daughter of Grand Duke Charles Alexander of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. From this marriage, he had the following children:

• Unnamed son (1877-1877)
• Heinrich XXXII (1878–1935)

married in 1920 (divorced 1921) Princess Marie Adelaide of Lippe (1895-1993)

• Heinrich XXXIII (1879–1942)

married firstly in 1913 (divorced 1922) Princess Victoria Margaret of Prussia (1890-1923)

married secondly in 1929 (divorced 1935) Allene Tew (1876-1955)

• Johanna (1882–1883)
• Sophie Renate (1884–1968)

married in 1909 Prince Heinrich XXXIV Reuss (1887-1956)

• Heinrich XXXV (1887–1936)

married firstly in 1911 (divorced 1921) Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg (1888-1947)

married secondly in 1921 (divorced 1923) Princess Marie Adelaide of Lippe (1895-1993)

Ancestry

Ancestors of Heinrich VII, Prince Reuss of Köstritz

16. Count Heinrich XXIV Reuss Köstritz               8. Heinrich IX, Count Reuss of Köstritz                       17. Baroness Eleonore von Promnitz-Dittersbach               4. Prince Heinrich XLIV Reuss of Köstritz                             18. Count Karl von Wartensleben und Flodroff               9. Countess Amalie von Wartensleben-Flodroff                       19. Johanna Margaretha Huyssen van Kattendijke               2. Heinrich LXIII, Prince Reuss of Köstritz                                   20. Baron Johann von Geuder genannt Rabensteiner               10. Baron Friedrich Christian von Geuder genannt Rabensteiner                       22. Baroness Sophia von Lettmath               5. Baroness Wilhelmine von Geuder genannt Rabensteiner                             22. Johann von Bredow               11. Johanna von Bredow                       23. Sophie von Borcke               1. Heinrich VII, Prince Reuss of Köstritz                                         24. Count Heinrich Ernst of Stolberg-Wernigerode               12. Count Christian Frederick of Stolberg-Wernigerode                       25. Princess Christiane of Anhalt-Köthen               6. Count Heinrich of Stolberg-Wernigerode                             26. Christoph Ludwig, Count of Stolberg-Stolberg               13. Countess Auguste of Stolberg-Stolberg                       27. Countess Luise of Stolberg-Rossla               3. Countess Eleonore of Stolberg-Wernigerode                                   28. Count Albrecht of Schönburg-Waldenburg               14. Prince Otto Karl Friedrich of Schonburg-Waldenburg                       29. Friederike von der Marwitz               7. Princess Johanna of Schonburg-Waldenburg                             30. Count Heinrich XXIII Reuss-Köstritz               15. Countess Henriette Eleonore Elisabeth Reuss-Köstritz                       31. Countess Ernestine of Schönburg-Wechselburg

References

• Kurt von Priesdorff: Soldatisches Führertum, vol. 9, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt, Hamburg, 1941
• Heinrich Heffter (1969), "Heinrich VII. Prinz Reuß-Köstritz", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 8, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 387–388